The 21st edition of Geneva’s International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH), unspooling 10 – 19 March, will offer up works scrutinising current affairs with courage and determination, taking viewers on a frightening yet fascinating journey which will see them opening themselves up to the world. For the length of a film or a talk, the FIFDH will act as a mirror of our society while providing the public with an opportunity to contend with crucial political, ethical and symbolic issues.

This latest edition of the event will play host to countless debates, fiction films and documentaries - poignant testimonies from a changing world. This year’s event coincides with a symbolic jubilee which Programme Director Irène Challand explains as follows: "Commemorating the 75-year anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights encourages us to consider these rights in the context of their continuity, breaches and emergencies. For this reason, and with equal acuity, Geneva’s FIFDH tackles themes as complementary as humiliation used as a tool of oppression, the extension of universal world rights, and the ethical pitfalls of the digital era".

The FIFDH is also set to welcome first-class guests, including Lebanese director and visual artist Ali Cherri (The Dam [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ali Cherri
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scheda film], co-directed by Stéphane Malterre and revolving around Operation Cesar which brought to light crimes against humanity committed in Syria), French documentary-maker Nicolas Philibert (On the Adamant [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nicolas Philibert
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intervista: Nick Read e Ayse Toprak
scheda film]), Kenyan producer Toni Kamau, Swiss photographer Christian Lutz (who authored the photographic work Citizens), journalist and feminist activist Victoire Tuaillon (creator of the emblematic podcast Les couilles sur la table) and Canadian-Somalian activist Ilwad Elman.

Environmental issues analysed from an ecofeminist, decolonial and antisemitic viewpoint will be the focus of various debates, and central to the poignant, medium-length movie Duty of Care: The Climate Trials by Belgium’s Nic Balthazar. Migration and forced journeys towards an Eldorado which soon turns into a form of hell are notably set to be tackled by French director Manon Loizeau in La vie devant elle, while two films are set to open the decolonisation debate: the medium-length movie Colette & Justin by the French director of Congolese descent Alain Kassandra, and H2: The Occupation Lab by Israeli directors Idit Avrahami and Noam Sheizaf.

As for Swiss cinematography, FIFDH will provide audiences with an opportunity to discover Carmen Jaquier’s touching film Thunder [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Carmen Jaquier
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intervista: Fisnik Maxville
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scheda film], by Nick Read and Ayse Toprak in My Name is Happy, by Georgian director Ioseb "Soso" Bliadze in A Room of My Own [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ioseb “Soso” Bliadze e Tak…
scheda film] and by Claudia Varejão who’ll be presenting her magnificent movie Wolf & Dog [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cláudia Varejão
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